bug#10148: 24.0.91; "pending" regexp Isearch

[Lars Ingebrigtsen]

Juri Linkov <juri@jurta.org> writes:

>> In this context "pending" makes sense, yes.  So the problem is that
>> "pending" is also used for the other case where it does not make sense.
>
> This is still doubtful because when using an incomplete regexp like
> `C-M-s i s \ |', "pending" still makes sense since Isearch is waiting
> for the user to type an alternative search string.
>
> Actually this situation is already described in (info "(emacs) Regexp 
> Search"):
>
>      In some cases, adding characters to the regexp in an incremental
>   regexp search can make the cursor move back and start again.  For
>   example, if you have searched for `foo' and you add `\|bar', the cursor
>   backs up in case the first `bar' precedes the first `foo'.
>
> So it seems that Dani just wants to add a phrase like
>
>   and `Pending' appears in the search prompt
>
> to the end of the first sentence cited above in the Info manual.

This was ten years ago, and "pending" is still somewhat confusing, but
I've now added the text to the manual in Emacs 29.

I agree that "pending" isn't very informative here, but I don't really
have a suggestion for a clearer wording.  In the "is*" case, we want to
say "we've recalculated (and possibly added more) matches", which is
unusual when isearching, so it's probably nice that we get a message for
that.  But something like "Recalculated" instead of "Pending" might be
nice?

In the \| case, we're probably waiting for more data, so "Pending" is
fine there, but I don't think we really can separate between the two
cases, can we?  "foo\|" is a valid regexp; it's just very odd.

So I dunno.  Perhaps just leaving it as is is the best solution.  Any
opinions?

-- 
(domestic pets only, the antidote for overdose, milk.)
   bloggy blog: http://lars.ingebrigtsen.no